Multi-billion-naira worth of cocaine concealed in heavy-duty automobile pivot shafts and Ghanaian fabric, Kente, among others, have been recovered in a nationwide intelligence-led operation by officers of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). While 2.32 kilograms of cocaine concealed in Ghanaian traditional Kente materials heading to the United Kingdom were intercepted at a courier firm in Lagos on Monday, 5th August 2024, 10.494 kg of the same class A drug buried in heavy-duty pivot shafts heading to the United States were recovered at the same logistics company after the NDLEA sniffer dogs detected the automobile spare parts containing the illicit drug, bringing the total weight of cocaine seized in the two shipments to 12.814 kilograms.
Similarly, five other consignments heading to the US, UK, and Canada were also intercepted at the courier firm in Lagos on Friday, 9th August 2024. These include 517 grams of cocaine in clothing materials; different quantities of pentazocine injection, promethazine injection, and cocodamol pills, all heading to the UK, as well as 297 pills of tramadol 225mg heading to Canada. At a different logistics company in Lagos, NDLEA operatives recovered 21 parcels of ‘Loud’, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 10 kg, coming from the US and intended for delivery in Abuja.
In another intelligence-led operation, NDLEA operatives on Wednesday, 7th August, arrested a member of a cocaine trafficking network, Obiora Joseph Agudosi, at Alafia Orile, Amuwo Odofin area of Lagos while attempting to move 9.00 kg of cocaine to Onitsha, Anambra State. Two members of another cocaine syndicate based in Nnewi and Oba Town, Anambra State, were also arrested on Thursday, 8th August, in a follow-up operation after the seizure of their consignments in a GUO transport company bus in Benin, Edo State, the same day. While the bus driver, Harrison Mbachu, 44, was arrested at the Benin tollgate with a total of 2.865 kg of cocaine, Izuchkwu Arinze, 40, was arrested in Nnewi Town while attempting to collect his consignment of 1.748 kg of cocaine and 514 grams of sodium bicarbonate. Ameachi Okoro, 39, was arrested while trying to collect his own 1.117 kg of cocaine in Oba Town.
Meanwhile, NDLEA operatives at Tincan Seaport, Lagos, on Wednesday, 7th August, intercepted 532 parcels of ‘Loud’, a synthetic strain of cannabis weighing 265.25 kg in a black Toyota Sienna bus, which was one of three vehicles in a container marked MSMU 6029570 coming from Montreal, Canada. The seizure was made during a 100% joint examination with men from the Customs Service and other stakeholders. The following day, Thursday, 8th August, the operatives recorded yet another seizure of 75 parcels of the same substance weighing 37.5 kg in a container marked FSCU-9274613, that arrived from Canada.
In Adamawa State, NDLEA operatives on Thursday, 8th August, with the support of men from Operation Farauta Sector 3, Mayo Belwa, arrested 49-year-old Joseph Peter with 425 compressed blocks of cannabis sativa weighing 291.200 kg in his Toyota Camry car marked Lagos KSF 381 HM. He claimed he was bringing the consignment from Edo State to deliver in Yola, Adamawa State. Two suspects, Adekunle Sunday Adebayo, 50, and Yahaya Mamuda, 35, were arrested at Gadar Tamburawa area of Kano on Tuesday, 6th August, with 29.5 kg of cannabis, while NDLEA operatives in Lagos recovered 1,169 kilograms of the same psychoactive substance from a bus along Orchid Road, Ajah on Sunday, 4th August.
No less than 1,230.00 kg of cannabis was destroyed on three hectares of farmland at Ikeje Forest, Edimogo Village, Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi State on Friday, 9th August, by NDLEA officers supported by men from the Nigerian Army, while the owner, Danjuma Maji, 40, was arrested.
In the same drive, Commands and formations of the Agency across the country continued their War Against Drug Abuse (WADA) sensitization activities in schools, worship centers, workplaces, and communities, among others, in the past week. These include WADA enlightenment lectures for women at Fowewe Sofuwa Islamic Centre, Saki, Oyo State; WADA sensitization lectures and the inauguration of a community drug control committee at Nnando Community, Anambra State; WADA advocacy visits to the Emir of Ilorin, HRH Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu Gambari, Kwara State; and WADA sensitization lectures to members of Ansaru-ud-Deen Muslim Society of Nigeria in Ado Ekiti, among others.
While commending the officers and men of the Special Operations Unit, Tincan, Lagos, Edo, Kano, Kogi, and Adamawa Commands, as well as those of the Directorate of Operations and General Investigations (DOGI), for the arrests and seizures, Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Rtd), urged them and their compatriots across the country to continue with their current balanced approach to drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.
